Our president is less than human in my opinion. I just had to write a song about this guy who hates everything.
It strengthens who we are as people.Īukerman: He’s kind of a multi-level bad guy, he doesn’t just hate immigrants, he hates everybody. To me, having people from other countries coming in means strength in diversity, strength in difference. That’s why I named the song „Who we are“. It got me kind of angry, so I wrote that song after the first immigration ban that Trump put together.Īukerman: When I was growing up, when I was learning what it meant to be an American – and I’m sure this is true to anyone in any country – is that you have to welcome the less fortunate people from other countries. They brought in all these policies that were anti-immigration. But last year America had a new administration come in that really injected a new found activism – not only in our band, but in the general public, because it was such a repressive administration. We write songs about food and girls and stuff. What’s the story behind this song?Īukerman: The Descendents are not really such a political band. Pauli t-shirt features a line from your song „Who You Are“. Through the music scene, an international bunch of kids recognize what St. Pauli mean to you?Īlvarez: It means we get to be a part of something that’s now international. They are also owned by the community and it’s the only other team I can think of where the fans and the team work together like that. This is a society, this is the city! I guess the equivalent in American Football would be a team called the Green Bay Packers.
It’s not some money man at the top calling the shots. The people and the community are responsible for keeping the team going. I think it’s a very unique combination of sports and political activism.Īlvarez: Milo already mentioned the politics, but I think it’s also the social engagement. Pauli different from other teams?Īukerman: I like the politics of what they’re doing, the anti-fascist, anti-homophobia and pro-feminist attitude. He kneeled down on the pitch, plucked some grass and wrapped it in cigarette cellophane as a souvenir. It was amazing! A friend who I was with is a devoted fan. Milo Aukerman: I first heard about the beer (laughs)!Īlvarez: No, but I played a show at the stadium at the 100th anniversary of the club with my band The Real McKenzies. Pauli logo in places as far as Canada, we knew they were on our side. After touring Europe many times and seeing the St. Back then I started seeing the shirts in the audience and I understood it was the local football team, but I didn’t see the connection to the punk rock scene until years later. Karl Alvarez: I toured in Germany with the band ALL in the late eighties and we also played Hamburg. Pauli’s own music school, they sat down with us for a quick chat about football, diversity and a certain questionable president. After checking out the pitch, the player’s tunnel and St. While on tour in Europe, singer Milo Aukerman and bass player Karl Alvarez recently popped in at the “Millerntor”, St.
It features those lines and is available now. Pauli we love this lyric by American punk rock band Descendents so much that we decided to make a t-shirt together. „Strength in difference / be the resistance / unite for justice / that’s who we are / that’s how I feel” – here at St. Milo Aukerman and Karl Alvarez from Descendents take a stand against anti-immigration attitudes